Multiculturalism is dead - Hello PCS!

Turncoat! Tony Blair has come out and smashed Britain's multiculturist social philosophy. Just 8 years ago, if you remember, Blair's Labour Party was the champion of multiculturalism. There was no group too small, too backward, too un-Western, too un-democratic, too anti-human rights, too sexually perverse; Britain, and more importantly, her money, was there for everyone and anyone. Lay down your burdens, wankers.

Then on a hot Summer's day in the sweaty and claustrophobic cofines of London's mass transit system, a spark of change was ignited. Four sparks actually, which ended up obliterating 50+ innocents in an instant. For the terrorists, it was a clear 'thanks' to the wooly fingered leaders of the social Left who pushed British society to the precipice with 30 years of anti-Western, anti-Christian ideology. It was however, also a clear sign to those not on the Left: the gauntlet has been thrown, and what are you going to do about it?

Karl Polanyi wrote about the double-effect, a trend he saw throughout history. With every great event, or series of events, or even with every great philosophy, there is a counter-event and a counter philosophy. Within Britain, and here Britain is the model example for the rest of the West, this double-effect was played out as the government openly supported moral ambiguity and a 'neutrality of worldviews' while it was experiencing its greatest numbers of non-Western immigration, specifically from former colonies populated by Muslims. (As an aside, what's pretty funny is that so many elites and intellectuals in the 1960s to the 1980s thought future acts of terrorism or new fascist ideologies would come from grumpy Christians. Oh, how wrong you were, and are.) As it became increasingly difficult to promote a Christian public philosophy in Britain, it became increasingly easier to promote an anti-Christian public philosophy. It didn't matter if you were an angry Muslim-proto-fascist or the village atheist, as long as your views and actions chafed the Christians, all the better.

What happened was pretty much what anyone with an ounce of plain common sense predicted. With the lack of a clear public philosophy, or sense of authentic communal identity (ever wonder why it is the religious who are the most patriotic and committed to their communities?), large swaths of non-Christian immigrants did not integrate. They founded their own schools, which didn't just teach in another language. They ghettoized themselves. Thus when the global jihad officially began in earnest in 2001, power-via-terrorism had already been entrenched in the minds of several hundred, if not thousands, of first generation Muslim Britons. Those people who made the mistake of vocalizing their concern over these unintegrated, alien communities were publicly roasted for being 'bigoted' or 'xenophobic'. Multiculturalism was the dogma, and heresy was not permitted.

Multiculturalism afforded these groups the time and space to advance their agenda. I mean, how else is that in the late 20th Century, the Century of Progress, so many 'insurrectionists' (although that is hardly the best descriptor) could fall under the radar? We've known for centuries that there are certain things in other cultures that are simply incompatible with our Judeo-Christian heritage, incompatible with post-Enlightenment human rights, so no one can argue that this all comes as a surprise. The fact is, we gave ourselves to our foes. St. Augustine writes in City of God that while the barbarian hordes were pressing against Rome, and the city's existence was threatened, pagan Romans were simply going to the theatre, and busying themselves in acts of pathetic immorality. These Romans had many eloquent rationalizations for their insatiable hedonsim and pedantry, which, surprise-surprise, have many parallels to our own society's complex and nuanced theories of multiculturalism, pacifism, and neutrality. Rather than taking the hard steps to protecting our society, we've watered it down, served it as a buffet, and are now wringing our hands because our guests don't want to hold their own buffet.

For any solution, we will have to take the prodigal road back to Christian society. It's patently obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense that our current path isn't the right one. Whatever the faults of our pre-1960s confusedly Christian culture, it was, by in large, a stronger one than this.